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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. roll — a cake
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. snap — to click
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. drill — a practice
  11. rule — a law
  12. cold — not warm
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. drill — the tool
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. drill — army training
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. fork — in a road
  22. roll — a list
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. lash — an eyelash

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com